If Manchester United players truly cared they’d use this damning fallout from Brighton loss as motivation – The Warm-Up

The damning opinions on Manchester United’s season began moments after their opening-weekend defeat to Brighton on Sunday, and after occupying plenty of newspaper space and online articles on Monday, the debrief is sure to continue today as well – make no mistake of that.

The takes have included, and this barely touches the surface:

There ain’t no defeat like a Manchester United defeat for the media, and while the points above are all pretty valid, you would imagine that the club’s players would/could/should use this as fuel for their season, as motivation to turn things around.

After just one game, the die has seemingly been cast, and already there is a sense that Ten Hag is doomed to fail at United. Except, that isn’t the case, because it can’t be the case. It is just one game, no season is defined by the first 90 minutes, and so if this United side truly cared, then they would grasp this opportunity, fight to turn things around, and create an us-against-them mentality while they’re at it – that is, if there isn’t division in the camp, which it appears there may well be.

But. But… At least the club are trying to address their poor summer transfer window by way of recruiting *checks notes* - Adrien Rabiot and Marko Arnautovic?

Ah…

A “very inconsistent” midfielder and a 33-year-old forward that no other club in the top 10 of the Premier League, let’s face it, would consider buying this transfer window. Maybe even the entire league.

Somehow, just days after Ten Hag insisted United would buy the “right players”, they are chasing targets that were not just low down on their wish list earlier this summer, but not even on it to begin with.

The desperation reeks, and the fact Ten Hag and assistant Steve McClaren admire Arnautovic from their time together at FC Twente 13 (THIRTEEN) years ago is embarrassing, and it is high time someone at the club ripped it all up and started writing a transfer strategy from scratch. Because on this summer’s showing, there can’t have been a proper one beforehand, and even one scribbled onto the back of cigarette packet would do at this point. Apparently, there’s a decent duo in the lower tiers called Benson and Hedges, why not make an offer for them?

You can now count on one hand the amount of days Barcelona have left before their first league game of the new season, but you’d need two to count the number of unregistered players.

New signings Robert Lewandowski, Jules Kounde, Franck Kessie, Andreas Christensen and Raphinha are yet to be registered, likewise the trio who signed renewals in Ousmane Dembele, Sergi Roberto and Gavi, and while Barcelona are reportedly adamant – amid a disagreement with LaLiga – that this third lever should allow them all to be registered, this is always the fourth level just in case.

All the while, there is not only staggering talk of Barcelona wanting to annul Frenkie de Jong’s existing contract amid claims the deal contains irregularities, but also that Gerard Pique is set to take another pay cut in order to get players registered.

It is a disasterclass when it comes to running a football club, and while they may yet scrape through the registrations before the game against Rayo Vallecano – or let’s face it, the one they want most in Robert Lewandowski – it is a shambolic approach from one of the world’s biggest clubs.

With the clock ticking, expect daily updates from now until Saturday, as it really is a race against time.

Ismaila Sarr, somehow still at Watford, did two outrageous things in the Championship against West Brom last night. Firstly, this inside-his-own-half beauty…

And then a pretty outrageously bad penalty which helped West Brom earn a 1-1 draw. Ouch. A one man two-good-two-bad reel.

As tempted as we are to share the video of that dad jumping down the waterpark slide from a great height – and catching some serious airtime – we’ll stick to football and congratulate Son Heung-min on his contract with Calvin Klein.

Wait. That isn't football!

We’re starting to feel very old. Filippo Inzaghi turns 49 today, and boy did he love the Champions League.

A dash of EFL Cup action tonight, with a sprinkle of Champions League qualifying, with Rangers out to overhaul a 2-0 deficit against Union Saint-Gilloise. And probably some more Manchester United fallout, too.